


Local Long Distance Relationship

by becasbelt



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: AU, F/F, Fluff, Love how that's a tag, Online Romance, they're still in college but beca's not a bella
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29470389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becasbelt/pseuds/becasbelt
Summary: Beca hates discussion posts, and online classes, and school in general, but this cute girl who keeps commenting on her posts seems pretty alright.In which Beca and Chloe flirt over discussion posts.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 28
Kudos: 180





	Local Long Distance Relationship

**Author's Note:**

> This is in honor of all the online classes I’ve taken lately, and the fact that I am actively procrastinating doing a discussion post as I post this story.
> 
> Title from Saint Motel's "Local Long Distance Relationship."
> 
> Enjoy!

_Hello, I’m Beca Mitchell. I’m from Seattle, I’m a freshman, and don’t have a major… yet. I want to move to LA to produce music someday, so most of my time is spent either listening, arranging, or remixing music. One interesting fact about me is that I speak a little bit of German._

Beca reads and rereads her answer, scanning for any typos and making double checking that she’s addressed every question on the prompt. She spends a minute rewording one sentence before deciding she doesn’t care enough to make it perfect and hits the “submit” button. Her response appears at the bottom of the discussion post, the most recent addition to the rest of her classmates’ own introductions about themselves.

She hated online classes.

Granted, Beca hated in person classes, too. Arguably more, in most cases. At least with online classes she didn’t actually have to attend any boring lectures or worry about sleep said lectures. Online was at her own pace, from the comfort of her own bed.

That being said, online classes sucked majorly.

In her (admittedly limited) experience, most online classes had _more_ work to do than in-person ones. More readings, more quizzes, and more _discussion posts._

Beca hated discussion posts, too.

Maybe Beca’s biggest problem was college itself.

(It was definitely college itself.)

Discussion posts were especially stupid, though. They always had complex prompts that essentially required a _novel_ to answer properly, and on top of that you had to read someone _else’s_ answers to the _same_ prompt and come up with a meaningful reply to it, which her professors always said would help them “interact” and “bond” with each other more.

Beca didn’t care who it was that she replied to. Most of the time she didn’t even look at the name of the person she responded to. She simply looked for the shortest post, wrote something along the lines of “I thought it was really cool how you brought up this point that I definitely also didn’t put in my response,” and hit the reply button. Assignment finished, laptop shut, brain turned off.

It was a tried and true formula that hadn’t let her down yet.

The dumbest discussion posts, in Beca’s opinion, were the ones where you had to introduce yourself. Again, it was to promote “class comradery” or whatever her professors always talked about, and frankly Beca thought they were a waste of time. The only upside to them was the fact that she usually didn’t have to go through the trouble of replying to other’s posts, so at least they were easy points to her grade.

Beca shuts her laptop and shoves it away from her before flopping onto her back to lay down in her bed. She stares at the ceiling for only a moment, contemplating her life, before sitting back up to once again pull her computer into her lap. Her fingers slide across her track pad as they navigate to her mixing program, and soon enough the sound of her latest mash-up is pouring through her headphones and filling her mind, leaving absolutely no room for any academic thoughts whatsoever.

She quickly loses track of time, easily spending the next couple hours lost in downbeats and chord progressions, and only realizes how late it’s becoming when her stomach growls angrily at her. Beca sighs, peeved that something so small as feeding herself has the audacity to get in the way of her music, before saving her work and closing her mix. The email notification on the bottom of her screen catches her eye, indicating new messages waiting to be opened.

Beca almost ignores it in favor of food, her leftover Chinese takeout from a few days ago calling her name now, but ultimately decides she should see what the email is. Sometimes her dad sends her emails (seriously, _emails_ ; doesn’t the man know how to _text_?), and he tends to get testy with her whenever she didn’t answer them in a timely manner, in true professor style.

Sighing once more, Beca lazily clicks on her email, scanning through her inbox for anything important. Only one makes her pause; an email notifying her that someone has responded to her most recent discussion post.

Beca lifts one eyebrow in confusion, perturbed why anyone would voluntarily go through and reply to other people’s responses when it wasn’t required, least of all why they reply to _hers._

Deciding that her leftovers could wait for one more minute, Beca opens up the discussion post in question, scrolling through all the responses until she reaches her own. Sure enough, a single response sits below her post. Beca squints her eyes and skims over the stranger’s words.

**_Chloe Beale_ **

_Hi, Beca! I’m a big music fan, too, and I think the fact that you make your own music is SO cool. I would love to hear it one day. ;)_

Beca takes a minute to process what she reads, completely at a loss for thought. The urge to roll her eyes strikes her, but she scrolls through the rest of the discussion post’s responses, looking for more random replies from this “Chloe Beale” person.

There are none.

Even more dumbfounded, Beca searches for Chloe’s original post, and she _does_ roll her eyes at the fact that it’s one of the longer responses in the class. A quick read through reveals that Chloe is from Oregon, a senior, loves animals, and is in the Barden Bellas, the all-girl a cappella group on campus. The response is friendly and enthusiastic, making Beca wonder if she’s the same way in real life.

Beca scrolls between Chloe’s post and her reply on Beca’s post for a minute, wondering what she should do. Her fingers tap against her keyboard as she thinks before she eventually mutters a small “fuck it” under her breath and starts typing a response to Chloe’s post.

_Hey Chloe, I think it’s neat that you’re from Oregon. My grandpa lives near the coast so I’ve been there a few times. It’s pretty cool._

She hits “reply” before she can think about it too hard, feeling awkward with her response, but deciding that in the end it didn’t really matter if she sounded awkward. Chloe was just some random girl in her online class. Beca would never meet her. No harm no foul.

Beca closes her laptop with finality and pushes herself off the bed, all thoughts of this Chloe person vanishing from her mind at the promise of leftover chow mein.

* * *

It happens again a week later.

This time is not quite as strange as the first time around, seeing as they are actually required to respond to at least one other person’s post, but it still surprises Beca that Chloe has once again chosen _hers_ to respond to.

The reply is nothing special, a typical response that Beca herself could have written. There’s really only so much to say when you yourself have also just answered the same prompt, after all. The only part that makes Beca take pause is the very end.

_Impressive response, looking forward to your next one ;)_

Because Beca’s response wasn’t that great. Beca knows this because she wrote it in about ten minutes with very little though, only just barely covering the required topics they were supposed to discuss. It was quite unremarkable, in Beca’s opinion, just barely meeting the bare minimum. Definitely nothing “impressive” about it.

And _again_ with the winky face tacked onto the ending. Beca didn’t even know if they were _allowed_ to put winky faces in discussion posts.

Beca slowly scrolls through everyone else’s posts, once again searching for Chloe’s original response. She had absolutely no idea why this Chloe girl chose _her_ of all people to apparently fixate on, but as a result of it Beca feels strangely obligated to keep up this little game they were playing.

Soon enough she finds Chloe’s post and starts to read through it, relieved that it’s not one of the longer responses she’s seen other people in the class give. It’s short and concise, hitting exactly every single point it needs to, while at the same time letting some of Chloe’s personality shine through.

 _If anyone’s response is impressive, it’s definitely yours,_ Beca thinks, almost sarcastically to herself. She pauses and stares at the reply box under Chloe’s post, hesitating for only the slightest of moments before typing that exact thought out in the box. With a few more obligatory comments about her answers to the prompt, Beca hits “reply” without a second thought.

Beca stares at her computer for a moment, once again processing this weird turn of events. Eventually she lets out a small laugh – because what _else_ should she do in this situation other than laugh – and goes to navigate away from the discussion board. Before she can, though, Beca notices that Chloe is one of those people who has an actual picture for her profile picture, unlike most of the class who just has the default first letter of their name that is given to them. Curiosity overcomes Beca and she’s clicking on the picture to enlarge it before she can register even deciding to do so.

As soon as Chloe’s picture pops up on her screen, Beca’s eyebrows raise and her eyes widen. And Beca knows that she’s into women; she’s known it since she got her first kiss with a girl named Emma her Sophomore year of high school. But Chloe serves as a stark reminder of this fact, because Chloe is _attractive._

Beca knows it’s not exactly _encouraged_ to stare creepily at attractive women. She’s been on the receiving end of creeps who don’t know how to keep it in their pants on multiple occasions, so she knows how weird it can be.

But that being said, Beca can’t tear her eyes away from this picture of Chloe Beale. She has red hair, which Beca would bet money is her natural color, blue (so _fucking_ blue) eyes, and sharp features. She’s laughing in the picture, and standing in front of a trendy brick wall like the picture came as a result of an impromptu photo shoot while walking along some city streets.

The energy in the scene is palpable, and between it and the few interactions Beca has had with Chloe so far, Beca is starting to get a rough idea in her mind as to what exactly this unexpected stranger is like behind the computer screen.

There’s another moment of hesitation to Beca’s next decision, but it is brief before Beca moving. She quickly clicks on her own profile and spends a minute finding a suitable picture that’s fairly recent, eventually settling on a selfie of her wearing her headphones that she took a few weeks ago. It’s a good picture, Beca thinks, not that it really matters all that much considering the fact that it is _literally_ only being used for this one purpose, but it’s a good picture nonetheless.

Beca clicks on “upload photo” and watches as her default “B” icon changes to her picture before shutting her laptop. Across the room, Kimmy Jin sends Beca a sidelong glance that makes Beca roll her eyes. This was dumb. _She_ was dumb.

School was dumb, too, but that was nothing new.

* * *

Beca would be lying if she said she wasn’t anxiously awaiting the notification telling her that Chloe has responded to her response the next week. She even posted her response an entire _day_ before it was actually due, which was incredibly unlike her. Her answer was the second one posted, right under that one kid in her class who was, like, two weeks ahead of all his assignments.

Prestigious son of a bitch.

The email eventually comes when she’s at her shift at the radio station. A short buzz from her phone is enough to snap Beca out of the CD-stacking stupor she’s fallen into and she jolts back to life, immediately pulling out her phone from her back pocket. She quickly opens up the discussion post and scrolls through all the replies, holding her phone closer to her face once she finds Chloe’s to read it.

Like last week, Chloe’s reply is pretty standard, commenting on some of the opinions Beca gave and offering up some of her own opinions in return, until the very end.

_P.S. love the new profile pic. Totes cute ;)_

Beca can’t help the smile that stretches across her face at the words and she feels her cheeks flush slightly. She feels giddy enough that for once she doesn’t mind someone saying “totes.” Because hey, if a pretty girl is using it to tell Beca she’s cute, she would happily get the word tattooed across her forehead.

“Is that a smile I see? From the Mistress of Miserableness herself?”

Said smile immediately drops from Beca’s face and she looks up to meet Jesse’s teasing expression.

“I think the dust in here is getting to you,” Beca replies smoothly, tucking her phone back in her pocket and picking up the nearest CD case, inspecting it to give herself something to do. “Making you see things that aren’t real.”

Jesse hums in contemplation. “Maybe so, but I know what I saw,” he says, pushing past Beca’s feeble attempt of an excuse. “Who is it? A boy? A girl? Some other friend I don’t know about?” Beca rolls her eyes and bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smirking. “I _need_ to know who this person is who can accomplish the impossible so that I, too, may possess this power.”

Beca snickers. “I think the fact that I haven’t murdered you and left you to rot among these shelves yet is proof that you have some kind of power already, dude,” she quips, moving to place the CD in her hand on a nearby shelf.

“Did you just admit we’re friends?” Jesse gasps in mock surprise. Beca presses her lips together and hums, the sound neither confirming nor denying the question. Because the truth is, Jesse _was_ her friend for all intents and purposes. They really didn’t hang out much outside of work, other than the occasional times he’ll seek her out on the quad, but Beca didn’t mind his company all that much, even if he was like an annoying brother at times. “What day is it? I need to mark this on my calendar.”

Beca rolls her eyes and grabs another CD.

Jesse is only quiet for a couple of minutes before the questions start up again. “But like, really, who is it?”

“Does it matter?” Beca replies, hitting him with her best _leave me alone_ stare.

Jesse simply nods with a smile, completely unaffected by her prickliness.

Beca sighs and sets her CD down. “It’s nothing, really. Just this girl in one of my classes.”

“You guys texting?” Jesse asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

Beca winces. “Not quite,” she says. “It’s- we’re… she’s in one of my online classes, so we’ve been talking over… discussion posts.”

Jesse is quiet for a moment. “You’re talking,” he repeats slowly, “over discussion posts?”

Beca groans and buries her face in her hands. “It sounds even worse when you say it,” she bemoans. “I don’t know how it happened! She commented on one of my posts, so I commented on hers, and then it just became a _thing._ ”

“Beca,” Jesse says to get her to look at him, which she does. “That is, without a doubt, the nerdiest and most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.”

That only makes Beca feel worse. “It’s fucking stupid,” she grumbles, snatching a pile of CD’s off the desk in front of her and walking over to some nearby shelves. She begins placing them on a shelf and tries to ignore the way her ears are burning.

“Who knew Beca Mitchell was such a _romantic,_ ” Jesse sing-songs, sidling up to her as she works. “It’s like you’re Joe Fox trying to find your very own Shopgirl.” Beca stares blankly at him. “Really? _You’ve Got Mail_?”

Beca blinks.

Jesse sighs and shakes his head. “You really are hopeless,” he says before walking back over to the desk. “I don’t know how you’ll win this girl over without the power of romantic classics on your side, but I wish you luck, my _friend._ ”

He walks to some other part of the store, CD’s in hand, as Beca finishes up shelving the ones in hers. She glances over her shoulder at his retreating back before pulling out her phone again, clicking the screen to life. Chloe’s reply is still on display, and while Beca doesn’t have the time to come up with a proper response for it right now, she does allow herself a brief moment for her smile to come back as she reads and rereads her words.

* * *

The commenting continues for several weeks, both of them taking turns flirting as subtly as an academic discussion post would allow. In all honesty, Beca is surprised by how their professor hasn’t caught onto it yet, considering the fact that half their responses don’t even have anything to with the content they are learning. Either their professor isn’t actually reading their discussion post answers, or she is _seriously_ craving some cheesy romance shit in her own life.

Beca really doesn’t care which one it is, so long as nothing puts a stop to it.

One week Chloe asks Beca what her favorite color is, and from then on they start asking each other questions with each new post- what kind of music they like, artists they listen to, pets they had growing up; really anything just to keep them talking. Eventually Beca knows so much about Chloe that she starts to forget about how she doesn’t actually know Chloe in real life; forgets that she’s never seen her in person.

The opportunity to do so, however, presents itself on a seemingly normal Friday evening. Beca has just gotten off a shift at the radio station, which means that she’s getting around to doing her discussion post for the week a little later than she normally would. She hurries through her answer, typing it out as quickly as she can before hitting “reply,” and immediately begins scrolling through everyone’s answers to find Chloe’s. Sure enough it’s there, her post much more eloquently put together than Beca’s, as usual.

She writes out the necessary response to the prompt first, making sure to be complimentary of Chloe’s thoughts on the matter, before thinking of a question to ask Chloe. Beca’s fingers tap against her keyboard as she thinks, eyes looking around the room. She spots an empty coffee cup sitting on her desk and an idea flashes through her head.

_Do you have a set coffee order? I usually just get black, which I know isn’t all that exciting._

Beca shrugs before submitting her reply. She opens up her mixing program and starts tinkering with her most recent creation, which only lasts about ten minutes before her phone chimes with a notification informing her that Chloe has responded to her post.

_I don’t really have a set order, I like to try things out! I do have a favorite coffee shop, though. The Coffeehouse on campus… maybe we could get something there together, say, tomorrow at 5? Maybe I’ll convince you to try something other than black ;)_

Beca finds herself starting in shock at her computer screen, Chloe Beale having surprised her yet again.

Her gut reaction is to say yes. Of course it is; Beca’s been flirting with this insanely pretty girl online for _weeks_ now, who wouldn’t say yes?

The doubt that creeps in a moment later makes her hesitate, though. Questions start appearing up in Beca’s like pop-up ads that she can’t close out of fast enough. What if Chloe thinks Beca is boring in person? What if Beca makes a fool of herself and makes things weird? What if this has all been an elaborate prank and Beca gets stood up? Or what if Chloe is actually some sort of serial killer? What if, what if, what if…

Beca almost doesn’t respond. She almost decides to ignore it and hope Chloe never brings it up again, or to completely ignore Chloe all together and pretend that whatever this thing has been between them never existed in the first place. Her instincts are telling to run, to shut it down, to not take the risk of getting hurt, and Beca almost listens to them. _Almost._

But then Beca thinks about Chloe, and how Chloe has just put herself out there, willingly putting her own heart on the line. And she thinks about how fucking genuine Chloe has always been through this entire class, and she wonders how she could _ever_ think that Chloe would intentionally hurt her.

“Don’t be stupid,” Beca murmurs to herself before typing her response.

* * *

The Coffeehouse is on the side of campus that Beca usually doesn’t have to go to, which means that it takes her a little longer than she expected to find it. It’s tucked away between the library and the biology building, both of which Beca has never set foot in. The shop is both cozy and chic, with large windows and comfy couches for seating areas, along with a few tables that look like they came right off of _Etsy_.

The bell attached the door gives a little ring when Beca steps into the coffee shop, her nerves eating her up inside. Although she had told Chloe she would meet up with her, the temptation to run away was still very much present.

But then Beca sees Chloe sitting on one of the couches across the shop, laughing at something the person next to her has just said, and Beca feels all her nerves slip away.

She stands there, right by the door, and watches Chloe for a moment, feeling like a creep but unable to help herself. Because Chloe is just as attractive in real life as she is in her profile picture, if not more so, and Beca can hear her laugh from where she stands, which sounds exactly like she thought it might.

Chloe glances up and her smile widens when she spots Beca by the door, and Beca thinks it’s stupid how her heart flutters at the action. Before she can step forward and explain to Chloe that she hasn’t been staring at her for _that_ long, Chloe is moving, pushing herself up from the couch and making her way to Beca in a few quick steps.

“Hey! You made it!” Chloe greets enthusiastically. To Beca’s surprise, she is pulled into a quick hug. “I was starting to think you’d never show.”

Beca pulls back from the hug and glances at a clock on the wall, feeling guilty when she sees that she’s about ten minutes late to their initial meeting time. “Yeah, sorry, I uh, got a little lost getting here,” she explains, feeling like a fool as she reaches up to rub the back of her neck. “I’ve never been here before.”

Somehow that makes Chloe smile again. “Well then that gives me the perfect opportunity to get you whatever I want.”

Beca smirks. “Whatever _you_ want, huh?” she says with a little mirth.

Chloe nods her head. “Whatever I want,” she confirms, tugging on Beca’s hand and leading her over to the counter. She orders them both a white chocolate mocha, and while Beca would usually feel miffed over the fact that someone else just ordered for her, the fact that Chloe hasn’t let go of her hand is more than enough compensation for her to cope.

Soon enough they’re sitting at a little table outside the shop, drinks in hand. Beca’s eyes widen upon her first sip, and not just because it burns the tip of her tongue.

“This is _really_ good,” Beca says, staring at Chloe in wonder.

Chloe giggles. “Amazing what happens when you drink something other than black, right?” Beca rolls her eyes affectionately and takes another sip. “I’m glad you like it, though. This is one of my favorites.”

“I thought you didn’t have a favorite?” Beca questions, cocking her head to the side.

“I didn’t say it was my all-time favorite,” Chloe points out with a grin. “I _do_ like to try new drinks, but it’s inevitable that some things you try out won’t be as good as others. The risk is what makes it exciting.”

Chloe raises her drink to her lips and Beca can’t help but think that there’s a lot of truth behind what she said, and not just about new coffee flavors. The risk of coming here to meet Chloe, and even the risk of responding to her post in the first place, has made this whole ordeal exciting and entirely worth it to Beca.

Hours pass by without either of them realizing it. Once they’ve finished their drinks, Chloe once again takes Beca’s hand and begins leading her around campus, claiming that if she got lost on her way to The Coffeehouse, she obviously didn’t know her school well enough. Beca allows herself to be tugged along, making comments here and there but mostly letting Chloe do most of the talking, which Chloe doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest. Occasionally Chloe will finish telling a story, something that would seem entirely made up if it wasn’t _Chloe_ telling it, and glance over at Beca with a small smile and a look in her eyes that makes Beca’s head spin.

And Beca finds it a little odd, how much she enjoys Chloe’s company. Normally she finds talkative, enthusiastic people tiring and frankly annoying. Hell, it took her forever to warm up to Jesse for those exact reasons. Yet with Chloe she finds herself only feeling endearment towards the way she so obviously loves Barden University, and a cappella, and the couple of dogs they come across in their walk.

Beca can already feel the way she’s falling for Chloe, but she decides that those are thoughts to process on another day.

They only become aware of how long they’ve been walking around when the sky is suddenly dark, the sun having mostly set while Chloe was giving Beca a tour of the hall where the Bellas rehearse. Chloe offers to walk Beca home, and Beca can’t find it in herself to turn her down.

The walk to Beca’s dorm is quieter than most of the night has been, Chloe’s fingers loosely intertwined with Beca’s and their pace a little slower than it was before, as if trying to soak in as much time together as possible. Still, it doesn’t take them that long to reach their destination, and strangely Beca finds herself feeling sad that she has to say goodbye to Chloe.

“This is me,” Beca says, reluctantly letting go of Chloe’s hand as they reach her door. She turns towards Chloe and folds her arms over her stomach.

“You know, I had a really great time tonight,” Chloe says, sounding shyer than she has all night. Beca grins.

“Me too,” she tells Chloe sincerely. “Who knew that weird girl who kept commenting on all my discussion posts would turn out to be pretty alright.”

Chloe laughs, loud and unrestrained, and Beca feels her smile grow. “Glad I didn’t disappoint.”

A thought occurs to Beca then. “So why did you decide to comment on my post that first time?” she asks. “Why me?”

Chloe considers the question. “I’m not sure,” she eventually says. “I guess I just saw that you were into music and wanted you to know that I thought it was cool.” She grins. “And then when you commented on mine it became obvious how awkward you were, and I wanted to see how far I could push you.”

Beca’s mouth falls open in shock. “You were fucking with me?”

Chloe nods her head proudly. “I was totally fucking with you,” she confirms.

Beca huffs and makes a big deal about crossing her arms over her chest. “Well this has been great, but I don’t think it’s gonna work out,” she proclaims, turning towards her door, which makes Chloe laugh again. “I’ll see you in virtual hell-”

Her faux threats are cut off when Chloe says her name and turns her back around, and the next thing Beca knows lips are pressed against her own.

Beca’s eyebrows raise in surprise even as her eyes instinctively fall shut. One of Chloe’s hands cups Beca’s cheek while her own hands hang uselessly by her sides. And Beca has to admit that she’s wondered if Chloe was a good kisser; they’ve been flirting for _months,_ who _wouldn’t_ wonder if Chloe was a good kisser. Suffice to say, Chloe is just as good as Beca had suspected she would be.

And Beca still hates discussion posts, but she thinks that she could write an entire essay on how nice it feels to be kissing Chloe Beale.

Chloe breaks the kiss and leaves Beca feeling lightheaded. Her eyes flutter open to see Chloe biting her lip against a sly grin.

“Good night, Beca,” Chloe says, winking smoothly at her before walking down the hall. Beca watches her go, still in a daze, until she rounds the corner out of Beca’s sight, and only then does Beca push her way into her room, a smile on her face that she knows won’t be leaving anytime soon.

* * *

Beca forgot to ask for Chloe’s number.

They’d kissed, and like an idiot, Beca forgot to ask for Chloe’s number.

The following week all Beca can think about is Chloe, and what Chloe might be doing, and if Chloe might want to see her again, but Beca has absolutely no way of contacting her.

Well, there is _one_ way.

Beca does her discussion post four days early. _Four._ Her post is once again the second response on the board, right behind the same kid who is still two weeks ahead.

Still a prestigious son of a bitch.

Beca does her discussion post four days early and spends four day anxiously awaiting Chloe’s reply. Does it make her feel like an idiot? Absolutely. Can she help it? Absolutely not.

The notification comes while she’s at work again, which makes her smile so wide that it makes Jesse tease her for the remainder of their shift, but Beca really can’t find it in herself to care.

**_Chloe Beale_ **

_I still want to hear your music, by the way. I’ll be at your place at 8:00. ;)_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Find me on tumblr at becasbelt!


End file.
